


i'm only goin' o'er to jordan (i'm only goin' over home)

by girlbossgretchen (The_Camel_Queen)



Category: The Wilds (TV 2020), World War Z - Max Brooks
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Island (The Wilds), Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, F/F, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Road Trips, Zombie Apocalypse, and there's some references to events in that book, basically this is just 5k of dot and shelby being bros, but you don't need to have read the book, dot campbell centric, i wrote this pretty much in one sitting ngl, no beta we die like jeanette, pov dot campbell, rated teen bc there's some swearing, the zombies are the zombies from wwz, there's some references to some dark stuff but nothing explicit, which is why i said no warnings apply
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-16
Updated: 2021-03-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 07:42:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29963160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Camel_Queen/pseuds/girlbossgretchen
Summary: A flash of blonde and Dot’s gun went up, pointed directly at the head of whatever made their way toward her. She had two bullets left, six cigarettes, and the last mini of hard liquor she raided from the motel back in Aquilla.She’d have to get it in one shot, which would be hard sitting down, with her back to it, half delirious.She grunted as she pulled herself around, her leg still out in the makeshift splint. The zed crept closer, not going at the usual hobbling pace. It'd definitely caught her scent though, maybe it was down a few limbs already.She cocked her gun, flicking off the safety, keeping her finger off the trigger. She’d wait until she could see the whites of its eyes. Get it in one shot.The blonde head crept closer and she finally tucked her gun over the rocks, making eye contact with it for the first time.“Shelby Goodkind?”“Dot Campbell?”or: the zombie apocalypse AU
Relationships: Dot Campbell & Fatin Jadmani, Dot Campbell & Shelby Goodkind, Fatin Jadmani/Leah Rilke, Martha Blackburn & Shelby Goodkind, Shelby Goodkind/Toni Shalifoe, dot campbell & rachel reid
Comments: 15
Kudos: 83





	i'm only goin' o'er to jordan (i'm only goin' over home)

A flash of blonde and Dot’s gun went up, pointed directly at the head of whatever made their way toward her. She had two bullets left, six cigarettes, and the last mini of hard liquor she raided from a motel back in Aquilla.

She’d have to get it in one shot, which would be hard sitting down, with her back to it, half delirious. 

She grunted as she pulled herself around, her leg still out in the makeshift splint. The zed crept closer, not going at the usual hobbling pace. It'd definitely caught her scent though, maybe it was down a few limbs already. 

She cocked her gun, flicking off the safety, keeping her finger off the trigger. She’d wait until she could see the whites of its eyes. Get it in one shot. 

The blonde head crept closer and she finally tucked her gun over the rocks, making eye contact with it for the first time. 

“Shelby Goodkind?” 

“Dot Campbell?” 

Shelby stared at her, lowering her own gun and Dot let out a breath of relief. 

“Dottie, oh my god, I thought you were one of ‘em.” She put away her gun, Dot doing the same and she ran over. “It’s so good to see ya, what’s wrong?” She looked at the leg, her face paling. 

“Ankles broken,” Dot muttered. “Was gonna treat myself to one last drink,” she gestured at the bottle. 

“Oh lord,” Shelby said. “Well that’s no good, I got a place not to far from here I’ve been camping out in. Some first aid stuff too.” 

“I can’t give you anything back for it,” Dot said. 

“We both know two people are more likely to make it,” Shelby said. 

She looked sunburned and hollowed out, a little hungrier than the last time Dot saw her, headed with her family to that military base. She was alone and desperate, everyone was. Because here was how it went in Texas: you could trust a stranger as far as you could throw ‘em, but you needed people to live. So if you had people, you lived. And Dot was people, or as close to people as Shelby was willing to get. She musta lost a lot to lower her standards so far. 

“Alright,” Dot said. “We’re gonna have to go slow and you’re gonna have to carry a lot of shit.” 

“No problem,” Shelby beamed. 

Back at the camp, an old rusting trailer with some battery Shelby told her she was saving for a rainy day, Shelby re-splinted her, fed and watered her, and they pooled their resources. Twenty-six ciggs now, which might get ‘em a few hours in a safe car north, if they wanted it. Or it might get ‘em some food, or a get out of jail free card, depending on the hunger of the people hunting ‘em. 

It was late at night when Dot realized she hadn’t even asked yet. 

“Family’s gone then?” 

“Yeah,” Shelby said. “You?” 

“My dad died before this shit show,” Dot said. 

“Lucky,” Shelby said. She took a swig from the mini, and passed it over to Dot. “What’s your plan?” 

“I heard there was a safer spot near San Antonio,” Dot said. “Running water and shit.” 

Shelby shook her head, “Gone, three weeks ago. Heard it on the radio.” 

Dot nodded, “What about you?” 

“Radio said Hawaii’s better,” Shelby said. “There’s an operation ferrying people there on the west coast. It’s a thousand cigs per person. But there’s work by the dock if you’re willing to do it.” 

“Work for you?” Dot asked. 

Shelby’s jaw tightened, “I’ll do what I have to do. Lord forgive me.” 

Dot sighed, “Sounds like we go west then.” 

They hung around in the trailer for three days, pushing the limits of what was safe, and stumbled on to a new place in the area at daybreak on the fourth day. Dot’s ankle wasn’t broken, with the inflatable cast Shelby had in a week or so she’d be something regarding useful, and as long as she didn’t push herself she’d be more than fine. 

Spending time with Shelby Goodkind was another story. For one thing—despite the zombie apocalypse, complete destruction of their lives and modern society, and the death of her family and everyone in their town—Shelby was still good and kind. She’d clutch at the cross around her neck every time they’d pass a body, and would never touch one, even the ones that were recent and obviously not stripped clean. It made Dot kinda mad, she found five ciggs just walking, and she wondered how many Shelby passed off being squeamish. 

But Shelby also wasn’t squeamish, wasn’t afraid to take down a zed with a kitchen knife, and with that same hand wipe the gore off Dot all gentle. She called her Dottie, gave her the last blanket, and always volunteered for the first shift so Dot could watch the sunrise. Dot hadn’t been cared for in a long while, hadn’t been around people in even longer. She decided she might love it. 

But Shelby was a magnet, always had been, she talked about god’s light long enough that she got Dot believing it all fell on her. It wasn’t a real surprise when she showed up with a stray. 

“What the fuck,” Dot said. “You kidnapped a child?” 

“I did not kidnap a child,” Shelby said, picking the girl up with some difficulty and lifting her onto the backseat of the broken down minivan they were holed up in. 

“I sent you out to get sunscreen,” Dot said. “How'd you come back with a child?” 

“She’s our age,” Shelby said. “I think. And listen, I found her barricaded in a utility closet with a bad fever, I knew we had some tablets but I didn’t wanna leave her.” 

“Like bite fever?” Dot asked. “We don’t have enough bullets for you to be—”

“No,” Shelby shook her head, “Look,” she gently unwrapped a bandage around the girl’s arm, revealing a bad slice. “It’s infected. Not a bite. We’re okay.” 

Dot sighed and nodded. The girl’d probably try and rob ‘em blind but if they watched her hands and got away fast enough they should be fine. They’d be fine. 

“You’re more trouble than you’re worth,” Dot muttered. Shelby smiled, all sweet and gentle and bright and Dot rolled her eyes. 

The girl took the tablets, they washed and changed the bandages, after about fourteen hours she blinked awake, unfortunately while Dot was on watch. 

“Who—who are you?” 

“Dot Campbell,” she said.

The girl stared at her. 

“My friend saved your ass,” Dot said. “Shelby.” 

“Um,” the girl inched back, “Why? Where am I?” 

“We’re on the twenty-two, not from from the ten-eighty,” Dot told her. “You got a nasty infection there, got any cigs?” 

“No, I don’t smoke.” 

Dot blinked at her. “Alright then.” 

“My friends will be looking for me,” the girl said. “I should get back to them.” She didn’t have an accent, Dot realized, not even a thin one like her own. 

“Shelby found you around Mr. K’s, we can draw you a map if you’d like,” Dot said. “Where you from?” 

“Austin,” the girl lied, badly. 

“Alright then,” Dot said again. “Well we’ll draw you a map in the mornin' and you can leave at day break. It ain’t far.” 

“Thank you,” the girl said. “For helping me.” 

“Shelby’s idea,” Dot said. Neither of ‘em slept the whole time, the girl smart enough to keep an eye out, and Dot’s whole job to watch out. She woke Shelby up when she was supposed to and easily muddled into a slumber. 

A nice thing, about the zombie apocalypse, was Dot had gotten a lot better at sleeping. She used to stay up for hours thinking ‘bout how she’d pay the bills, how much her dad’s meds cost, whether he was coughing more that night than he did most nights, but now she hit whatever soft looking rock she decided to call a pillow and conked out until Shelby woke her. Shelby, on the other hand, barely slept a wink, shooting up at the slightest sign of trouble, even when Dot was on watch. Too much time on her own, Dot’d guess. 

Before Shelby, Mateo wandered with Dot. He was quiet and sweet and she had took care of him as best she could. Shelby didn’t have nobody before Dot. Just her dead parents, and if Dot remembered youth soccer well enough, couple of dead siblings too. 

So Dot pretty much conked out and missed the way the girl and Shelby giggled all night. But even she wasn’t blind to their bond when she woke, the way the girls smiled easily at one another, laughed with each other, kept up with each other. 

“Dottie,” Shelby said. “Martha—” so that was the stranger’s name “—said you told her we could draw her a map but Mr. K’s ain’t far, we might as well take her.” 

Dot grunted, she didn’t wanna waste a day but it wasn’t like Mr. K’s would take all day and they might as well see if they could find any more cigs. She hadn’t met any non-smokers in a long while. Apocalypse sorta took the fun out of being straight-edge, if Dot had to guess. 

Dot took the back, a metal bat out and ready, and Shelby and Martha took the front. Shelby had a makeshift spear made, good for longer range, but worse up close, and she gave Martha the other bat they had. To borrow, Dot had emphasized. 

One of the other things that never got old about the apocalypse, was walking up a highway. Walking straight up that middle line, knowing no one would dare drive a car ‘round there. It felt like the world was yours and empty, like you were finding it, rebuilding it, building it. It was as close to a cowboy as she'd felt since her daddy let her ride on his back. It was as close to free as she'd ever felt. 

They got back to Mr. K’s and Dot saw the approaching figures first, aiming her rifle right at ‘em, safety off and gun cocked, but her finger off the trigger. It was Shelby’s hunting rifle, actually, but she had handed it to Dot first chance she had, looking kinda pale. She had Dot’s old handgun now, useless with this kinda range. 

“Live ones?” Shelby asked. 

“Can’t tell,” Dot said. “Just kinda standing there.” 

“They could be waiting for me,” Martha said. Dot glanced at her, hoping the girl wasn’t actually as naive as she seemed. She probably was. 

They walked as close as they dared, before Martha was able to confirm that yes it was her friends. 

She ran at ‘em and one of ‘em collided with her, slamming her into a hug. There were two more, just kinda watching Dot and Shelby. 

“We should go,” Dot said. “We did what we said.” 

“Dottie,” Shelby said. 

Dot sighed and the two of ‘em trudged up to the happy pair, reuniting like they'd been separated for years, decades, instead of a few hours. It was a miracle they were reunited at all, Mateo said he’d meet her back at the camp in an hour and she had to bash his head in six months later with a sledge hammer. 

“Who’re your friends, Martha?” One of the other people asked. It was four girls counting Martha, none of ‘em white, but they all looked around the same age as Dot and Shelby. 

“This is Shelby,” Martha grinned, “And Dot.” 

Dot nodded at them.

“I am just so pleased to make your acquaintance,” Shelby smiled, holding out her hand to the girl who still had an arm wrapped around Martha. 

“This is Toni,” Martha said, squeezing the girl’s side when she didn’t take Shelby’s hand. “And Rachel and Nora.” 

“Ah,” Shelby smiled, “Toni your sister right?” 

Martha nodded, Toni glared. “Yeah it’s great to meet you or whatever. There a reason you kidnapped Martha?” 

“I saw her passed out and worried she was alone,” Shelby explained. “I knew we had some tablets back at the camp but—”

“What do you want?” Rachel asked. “We got about six hundred if that’s—” Martha from Austin, Dot’s ass. Money hadn’t meant shit in Texas for awhile. These kids were from up north, probably pretty far up north too. Maine or some shit. Delaware. 

“Got any cigs?” Dot asked. 

“Yes,” Nora said. “We have a couple packs.”

“Great,” Dot held out her hands and two packs were dropped into them. Nora didn’t make eye contact the entire time, her hands fidgeting with anything. She was covered in scabs and scars, picking at her own skin probably. 

“Where y’all headed?” Shelby asked. 

“None of your business,” Toni said. 

“Apparently the San Antonio Zone relocated to Tyler,” Martha said. “We heard some people talking about it last week.” 

“Y’all got a radio?” Dot asked. 

Martha shook her head. 

“If you had one you’d know that that’s what they’re pulling now, telling people to go to Tyler, they shoot you as soon as you step foot in Athens.” 

“So where are you guys headed?” Rachel demanded.

“West,” Shelby said. “Radio says they’re ferrying clean folks to Hawaii. It’s an island so.” 

“Clean how?” Rachel asked, taking a step forward and lifting her jaw. 

Dot sighed. 

Shelby’s eyes widened, “Clean as in not infected, I mean.”

“Chill,” Rachel smiled, all thin, “I was kidding.” 

“Great,” Dot said. “Not that this hasn’t been fun, but we should be going.” 

“Wait,” Martha said. “It’s just, we might as well go west too. And we might as well go west together.” 

“Marty,” Toni grabbed her by her uninjured arm, “I wanna talk to you for a moment.” 

They got into a whispered argument for a few minutes. Rachel joined and it escalated but Martha came out on top, smiling as she approached them. 

“We might as well go together,” She repeated. 

Shelby’s smile was just as wide, “We would be _alighted_ to have you.” 

The new girls were a nightmare. Rachel and Nora, sisters as Dot would learn, hated one another. And by hated Dot meant, had a complicated relationship of love without trust or mutual respect. Nora didn’t trust Rachel, Rachel didn’t respect Nora, and they were constantly going at one another. Toni had some sorta toxic jealousy thing going on, despising Shelby because she was monopolizing Martha. She also tended to fly into these rages, making her wander off for long periods that had Dot itching to grab her gun and demanding the girl strip to check for bites. Mateo’s dad used to do the same thing, wander off to check his bite. 

Shelby was no use, wholly focused on two things: Martha, and Toni’s hate. Dot ambled along behind, keeping the sisters from killing each other, Toni’s voice down, and everyone else alive. 

The worst part was it took Dot nearly three days before she caught sight of it. 

“You have one hand,” Dot glared at Rachel. Rachel slung the pack over her shoulder. 

“You’re just noticing that now?” Rachel asked. “I must be getting better with it.” 

“The fuck happened?” Dot said. 

“My hand got bit,” Rachel shrugged. “Cut it off before it spread, didn’t even know it would work.” 

Dot whistled, low and quiet, like they were all used to being. 

“I cut it off,” Nora corrected, sullenly. 

Rachel rolled her eyes. 

“I’m still quicker on the draw than you,” Rachel said to Dot, the words clunky in her mouth. 

Dot set her jaw, “So y’all are sticking with the story that you’re from Austin?” 

“We’re from New York,” Nora said. Rachel glared at her. “What? You think some group would waste three days on four teenage girls?” 

“New York?” Dot asked. “Everyone knows it’s safer up north, what the hell you doin' down here?” 

“You hear about Yonkers?” Rachel asked. 

Dot shook her head. 

“It was the last op the US military set up before they fell apart. We’d made it out by then but we watched it happen on the news. Someone in a group we had still had a phone and the whole thing was live streamed. All of the death. The group were supposed to go to some military bases up in Canada but we wanted a wide open space with plenty of guns.” 

“Texas,” Dot said. 

Rachel nodded. 

“Stupid,” Dot told her. “You probably came for San Antonio too.” 

Rachel sighed, “Nobody was gonna survive those Canadian winters without a base, and we weren’t sure we were gonna get one. Rather get bit than freeze.” 

“How’d you meet Toni and Martha?” Dot asked. 

“Toni and I got into a fistfight over some Takis,” Rachel said.

Dot nodded, “Fuego?” 

“Fuego.” 

And yeah they were a nightmare but quicker than Dot wanted they became her nightmare. Still though, she dragged Shelby away from Martha and Toni’s sides, and muttered, “We can still go. Ditch if you want. Whenever. We don’t know ‘em.” 

High school Shelby woulda been scandalized, muttered some bible passage at her. This Shelby was a little more grown and only looked at her all serious. 

“You knew what I was when you picked me up,” She said. “And I knew what Martha was. We’ll face our consequences, I reckon.” 

Dot nodded. 

Walking all day, everyday, wasn’t easy stuff. Especially since they had to strip as many bodies as they could find. Nora figured it out pretty quick, mumbling something to Rachel who recruited Toni to storm over to Dot. 

“You don’t smoke them, but you’re hoarding them,” Rachel said. “Why?” 

Dot kept her easy pace. “These things are currency now, the value’ll only go up over time.”

“Currency for what?” Toni asked. “What are you trying to buy?” 

“You think a ferry to Hawaii is free?” Dot asked. “I’m saving for all of us.” 

“Dottie,” Shelby walked over, Martha sticking by Nora, “What’s up?” 

“How much?” Toni asked. “Really, how much?” 

“A hundred each,” Dot said, too quickly. 

“Try again,” Rachel said. 

“Dot,” Shelby got between them, looking at Dot. “Thou shalt not lie, right? Tell ‘em the truth.” Dot glared at her and Shelby turned back around to Rachel. “It’s five hundred each. We got about a hundred now, so no one’s going to Hawaii.” 

“What if there aren’t enough?” Toni asked. “Who decides then?” 

“We’ll draw straws,” Shelby said. 

It was as easy a solution as anything but the tenseness started building up, Rachel and Toni viewing Dot with more suspicion. It’d fade, over time, Dot knew. Or they’d all die. 

The worst it got, was actually Shelby’s doing, the easy peace maker of it all. They hadn’t bothered building a fire, despite how cold and exposed it got in Texas at night, but they huddled together between three cars they found abandoned along the highway that they pushed into a triangle. Someone got to the seat cushions of all three first, so there was nothing comfortable to lie their heads on. It was easy for Dot though, the asphalt as soft as anything to her now. 

They stayed up later than they should’ve talking. Trading stories about their old life that all of them knew weren’t doing any good. Toni played basketball, was pretty good at it too. Rachel had a skill for swimming she’d never have again. Nora did quiz bowl, surprising no one. Dot talked about metal, fishing with her dad, what types of pills sold for what. Martha was a dancer, and a vegetarian once. It was something that made ‘em all crack up. When humans become man eating beasts, and once upon a time there were jokes online about vegans. Shelby talked about the yearbook, mission trips, Andrew.

But then cause Shelby started it by prattling on about Andrew Toni got it in her head to talk about Regan and Shelby was talking about Leviticus. 

The next morning, Rachel quietly pulled Dot aside and told her to take all the cigarettes and head out. That they could make their own way west. Dot didn’t ask for an invitation to go with her. 

They split off at the twenty-five, Dot and Shelby heading for the forty, Toni, Martha, Rachel, and Nora heading for the sixty. 

Shelby was heartbroken for a few days, apologetic too, and grateful. Dot didn’t let her have any of that, only said, “It’s cause we’re from the same town. We might be the only ones from there left.” 

They trudged on. 

In Arizona Dot found the love of her life, her soulmate: Fatin Jadmani. In a completely straight way too. Fatin matched her tit for tat, spoke a language Dot hadn’t realized she’d been born knowing. Her girlfriend was an anxious woman named Leah, who Shelby got on with. Dot had worried, upon bringing the two back to camp, that Shelby would chase ‘em away again, but she hadn’t. Just smiled at the two of them, easily offering up a couple granola bars. 

Whenever tenseness came about Fatin just laughed, and Leah rolled her eyes. It wasn’t perfect, Dot knew, there was too much hate for that, but it would last ‘em long enough. The four of ‘em just worked in this great lovely way. 

Only problem was their destination. 

“We barely managed to get out of LA,” Leah mumbled, she hugged her legs, her head leaning on Fatin’s shoulder. 

“LA?” Shelby asked. “That’s where we’re headed.”

“What the fuck?” Fatin glared at Dot, “Dorthy I thought you had more sense than that.” 

“There’s some military guys ferrying people to Hawaii,” Dot said. 

“Where’d you hear that, the radio?” Fatin asked. She sighed at their nods, “They’re broadcasting out to whoever will hear it, but there is no ferry to Hawaii. The entire thing is just selling and shipping as many girls out as possible. We have no idea where though.” 

“So when you say you barely made it out,” Dot said. 

Fatin’s face was grim. 

“We have to warn ‘em,” Shelby said. 

“Warn who?” Dot asked. 

“Toni and the others! They don’t know,” Shelby stood up. “I’ll plot out the course now and we’ll start out fresh tomorrow. We aren’t leaving ‘em to—to—we aren’t leaving ‘em.” She stormed off and Dot watched her go. 

“She wants to go _towards_ LA to help some motherfuckers who kicked you out of their group?” Fatin asked. 

“Yeah,” Dot said. 

“Are you gonna go with her?” Leah asked. 

“I knew what she was when I picked her up,” Dot said. 

“What do you wanna do?” Leah asked Fatin. 

Fatin pressed her cheek to Leah’s head, “I don’t know if I can risk you.” Fatin looked at Dot, “Are you gonna be stupid?” 

“No,” Dot said. 

“Then we’ll come,” Fatin sighed. “Leah, that okay?” Leah nodded. 

Neither of ‘em were as good at offing zed as Shelby and Dot. Fatin was decent at finding stuff though, scoping stuff, and Leah had endurance none of the rest of ‘em could match. She was like a zed sometimes, just kept going, could keep going, until her knees wore down to dust and then she’d crawl, crawl until her fingers wore down to nubs and then she’d inch, inch until something put her out of her misery. It terrified Fatin and Shelby, but Dot couldn’t help being impressed.

So Dot ambled after Shelby toward Bethlehem on the forty but they were gonna leap back on the interstate and hopefully head ‘em off. Hopefully Martha, Toni, Rachel, and Nora’d be alive, and they’d find ‘em. And if they didn’t find ‘em, hopefully they’d be dead. And Shelby stopped sleeping about a day or two into trek. Would just keep staring at the maps and keeping watch, and taking inventory and thumbing around her necklace. 

When Dot woke up on the third day of their walk, Shelby’s hair was much shorter and Fatin looked real scared. Shelby kept walking and walking and, in a fit of rage that matched Toni’s, launched her necklace off the highway. She looked like she regretted it after but they had no choice but to keep going. 

They passed an arm and it looked like Rachel’s. 

Shelby walked faster. Leah had that glint in her eye. Fatin took Dot’s hand and looked very very scared. 

After two more days Shelby said fuck it, and found a car with some gas in it and told 'em to get in. 

Dot stood in front, “Shelby,” Shelby glared at her, “This’ll attract every body in the fucking country. The sound, the smell, I’m not just talking about the dead ones neither.” 

Shelby swallowed hard, “You gonna stay behind then?” 

“Shelby,” Dot said. “If you leave me here I’ll get caught up in the hoard. That what you want?” 

“Get in the damn car, Dottie,” Shelby said. 

“If we get to ‘em in time but there’s a fucking hoard following us, we won’t have anywhere to go but on,” Dot said. “Fucking think!” 

“I am thinking,” Shelby spat back. She shoved Dot, “I’m thinking about Toni, and Martha walking from Minnesota to Texas only to die in California. I’m thinking about Nora and Rachel watching Yonkers fall and then getting shipped off to who knows where. That’s what I’m thinking.”

“Shelby we can make it,” Leah said. 

“No we can’t!” Shelby said. “I done the math, I keep looking at these maps, there’s no way we’ll make it in time without a mode of transportation. No car and they die.” 

“Then what the fuck are we going there?” Dot asked. “If it’s too late—”

“It ain't too late!” Shelby said, her throat was all closed and choked sounding. “I can save ‘em! Jesus fucking Christ we have to help ‘em!” 

“Shelby,” Dot said, she put a hand on her shoulder. “We can’t take a car, and we can’t make it by foot,” Shelby’s face crumpled. “They’re gone, alright? We should be planning our next move.” 

“No,” Leah said. She shook her head, “We have to help them.” 

“You don’t even know ‘em,” Dot said. 

“I’m not letting four innocent girls go through what I nearly went through,” Leah said. 

“I’m with Leah,” Fatin said. “We’ll take the car and play it by ear.” 

“Play the-hoard-that-will-start-coming-after-us-the-second-we-turn-on-the-engine by ear?” Dot asked.

“Let’s vote,” Shelby said. “All in favor of going?” 

Fatin, Leah, and Shelby all raised their hands. 

“C’mon,” Dot begged. She looked at Fatin, “You told me not to be stupid!” 

“So don’t be stupid,” Fatin said. “Get in the car.” 

Dot sighed, wanted to punch something, wanted to cry, was too tired to do either, got in the car. 

The car attracted so many fucking zed, they wouldn’t be able to stop, and they had to hope there was enough in the fucking tank to get them to wherever the four were. Dot watched the dead bodies creep closer, at their slow hobbling, relentless pace. Fatin drove, Shelby used her pike to spear any who got too close, Dot watched the maps and steadily got herself into a panic. 

They were gonna die trying to save the asses of some girls they spent a couple days with. 

This was not what Shelby was when Dot picked her up, this was not what she was. Shelby had gone behind Dot’s back and fucking grown as a person, hadn’t she? How the fuck was Dot gonna get away from her? She’d have to pack Fatin in a suitcase and then Leah too and that would mean entirely abandoning Shelby to be on her lonesome oh god. 

Dot was stuck, wasn’t she. 

As they kept driving Shelby had to keep spearing zed. It started off as one or two, but as the hours wore on they were leaning on five, six, a steady growing mass ambling behind ‘em. 

If that had really been Rachel’s arm, they were probably dead. All of ‘em. Or maybe in the mass behind ‘em. And if they weren’t, they’d hear the car coming and head for the hills, assuming it meant a hoard was close behind. Which it was. 

This was such a fucking terrible idea. 

“So what, we just wait for a sign to say welcome to LA and then give up? We won’t find ‘em like this,” Dot said. 

“Shut up,” Shelby said, she speared another. 

“At least check you ain’t offing one of ours,” Dot said. “They could all be zed, for all we know.” 

“I said shut up!” Shelby turned to glare at her and a zed slammed against the door. She speared it and Dot’s mouth clamped shut. “We just gotta keep going,” she said. “We’ll be fine, we just gotta keep moving.” 

“You’re crazy,” Dot said. 

Shelby didn’t have anything to say to that. 

It was worse at nightfall, with visibility down, and they just had to keep going, to hope their car wasn’t stripped when they went over the bumps of mutilated corpses still hungry for a last meal. 

“We’re almost to LA,” Shelby said. “We got nearly a hundred cigs, we might be able to bribe someone if they jump us.” 

Leah snorted. 

They were driving through an empty enough part of Nevada though, less corpses hurling themselves off the road and towards them. Still the ever growing mass behind ‘em now, maybe fifty, seventy five, but about twenty out. 

“I gotta piss,” Dot said. 

“Hurry,” Fatin said. 

Dot stumbled out, no one noticing her grabbing her pack. The zed would follow the car, she’d make a clean break. She’d survive. 

She was only seven minutes south, judging by the north star Shelby taught her to find when someone’s hand grabbed her. She pulled out her hand gun, jamming it into the head and flicking the safety off. 

“Dot! Jesus Christ!” 

The girl was wide-eyed, tan, hollowed out, empty and desperate. Reminded her of the empty pill bottles around her house after her dad died.

“Toni?” 

Toni nodded, “Why are you here? Fuck that I don’t give a shit, you got water?” Dot handed it to her and Toni downed it. “The other’s are close, c’mon.” She stumbled as she got up, clearly dizzy, and Dot grabbed her forearm. 

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you guys,” Dot said. 

“Don’t tell me it’s you in the fucking car,” Toni said. “We’ve been running from that thing for ages.” 

“I fucking told Shelby,” Dot said. 

“Shelby?” Toni asked, she was almost too exhausted to sound disgusted, but she managed it.

“Listen, LA isn’t safe, we found out. They’re not taking kids to Hawaii, they’re taking them.” 

Toni went pale, “Fuck.” She even sounded choked now.

“Shelby’s having a fucking aneurysm worrying about you so I don’t even think she’s that fucking homophobic. I’ll get everyone back to the car, you tell ‘em I’m coming.” 

Toni nodded, stumbling towards the street and Dot walked back to the direction Toni pointed to before she left. Rachel, Nora, and Martha were all in various points of disarray. Exhausted, dehydrated, starving, aching and bleeding. Dot had to half carry, half drag Nora with Martha and Rachel had to get a stick to lean on as they stumbled toward the street. 

“We got like ten minutes,” Fatin said. “People are gonna have to double buckle, and before anyone else makes a decision, we’re going north.” 

Dot strapped everyone in and found herself sitting next to Shelby who met her eyes in a hundred yard stare. 

“You took your pack.” 

“Yeah.” 

“But you came back.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Fine.” 

They started on again. Dot saw Toni keep sneaking glances at Shelby and Shelby kept sneaking ‘em back. 

They weren’t far from Mt. Tobin when the two finally stopped dancing around each other.

Dot convinced everyone to ditch the car near LA, walking as quickly as they could once they did, knowing it’d take awhile to ditch the hoard too. Dot watched Toni talk to Shelby in low tones, Shelby full of apologies and panics and Toni keeping her cool longer than Dot had ever seen it. 

Martha took to Fatin quickly, everyone did, and Nora and Leah spent long hours walking beside each other mumbling about books or something. Not anything Dot gave two shits about. 

Rachel ambled along with Dot most of the time. Whenever Fatin and Leah were all over each other and Dot didn’t feel like third wheeling. Rachel was always listening to the radio and as time passed it became clear that the two of them were the most capable of keeping everyone alive. And not in a more knowledgeable way. Because Nora knew what plants were edible, and Shelby was a better shot. Or in an emotional way, because Fatin and Martha handled that. But in a planning sorta way. Because Dot knew how to get them to point B, while Rachel was working on point E. 

“We should go to Washington,” Rachel muttered on one of the late nights they spent keeping watch while they poured over maps. “We might be able to find a boat to Victoria.”

“Victoria?” Rachel pointed her out. 

“It’s a Canadian island. Canada lasted a little longer than we did, Victoria might not be in such a bad way.” 

“Less guns in Canada,” Dot said. “And there might not be a boat that’ll take us there. Plus, we don’t know the currency.” 

“We’re eight teenage girls,” Rachel pointed out. “We stick around so close to Cali, we’re asking for trouble. We need to put an ocean between us and whatever the fuck they’re doing there.” 

Dot sighed. So they’d go to Washington.

On the way they’d probably run into another group who’d tell them Washington was overrun but there was something decent in Wisconsin. Half way to Wisconsin someone would tell ‘em their information was bad and they need to get south where there were guns and space. They’d almost be in Georgia when someone would tell ‘em there was some real government up in New York again. 

They’d follow pipe dream to pipe dream to pipe dream. They’d probably die young. 

Toni curled around Shelby, holding Martha’s hand. Fatin and Leah held on for dear life. Rachel didn’t take her eyes off Nora. Dot watched them all. 

Yeah they’d probably die young. Better than dying alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm gus! 
> 
> Now if you're following me on tumblr ([@womenlovingwonderwoman](https://womenlovingwonderwoman.tumblr.com/)) you already saw this a week or two ago. I also post character analysis, crack, and theories there! I do prompts too!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this, I love a good zombie au and I might post more in this universe if there's interest. maybe i'll do a zombie apoc au post island? that could be fun? what do you guys think?
> 
> leave a comment or a kudos and be sure to subscribe to me as an author bc i'll only post the wilds fic on this pseudonym. god i wish i could be a youtuber. how do youtubers stand the sound of their own voice? freedom by george michael is truly an incredible song.
> 
> the title is from wayfaring stranger, specifically the version you can find [HERE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwdv8csxkmc)


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